#soldiierman

            THERE ARE MOMENTS IN THE DOCTOR’S  long, complicated life that he can never unsee, never undo. Moments that fill him with the  TYPE OF REGRET  that can only be conveyed through metaphorical means, because trying to get him to explain them in their simplest terms is quite on par with attempting to pull teeth out of a fully-grown WOLVERINE.

     The Doctor is sure that when he looks back on this moment in a century or two, it will be counted amongst those. He grits his teeth. Swallows. Shuffles awkwardly just outside the door with his hand half raised and his fist tight in preparation to knock, which he does, only because HE IS TRYING TO BE POLITE. He is fully aware that he will not be welcomed by Danny Pink for anything less, and while he’s SURE the man will come with him in a heartbeat once he says what he has to say  ( perhaps currently THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT he could pay to him ), the Doctor doesn’t want to risk being turned away before he gets the words out. And he can’t get the words out in front of a classroom full of teenagers whom had, most likely, just seen their Miss Oswald twenty minutes ago in their last period. HE IS NOT AN IDIOT ;  well, he is, but he can’t be about THIS.

   So he knocks, just for show. He grits his teeth harder, tries to form them into an expression that is more of a grin than a grimace, but it looks like he’s doing it around a mouthful of glass.

        the night is quiet, the sky pitch black, with only a smattering of stars to detract from the darkness of the heavens. she knows it’s a long shot, that it’s a touch too late to be calling anyone, much less him, at this hour, but        but. 

        her mind is in chaos, her fingers shaking beyond reproach. each blink brings back flashes of heat, of falling, of sand, of confusion. the nightmare is yet to release her from its firm grasp, even in her waking moments, and she’s desperate for something to hold on to. 

                   ❝ YOU WHAT? ❞       He blinks back any surprise at the statement, lips still twisted up into a grin that lends no air of mystery to the growing FONDNESS that’s been blossoming in his chest every time she comes around. It’s difficult not to smile when he’s with her; he’s tried – he really has tried – not to get too attached ( because why would she want to get stuck with him in her life? a man who’s barely got it together, and a rubbish conversationalist to boot ), but every day he slips a little deeper into some sort of feeling, and every day it becomes just that much harder to climb out.

            And she doesn’t make it any easier with her teasing. The only thing about this whole situation that’s proved easy is…… well, being with her – and, don’t get him wrong, he has no illusions about the pair of them, no grand designs on her, nothing that isn’t simply the desire to know her better. He doesn’t have many friends, but Eliana Oswald happens to be more than enough to get him through whatever nonsense he has to deal with on a daily basis. So when she says ‘I formally retract my hug’, a smile tugging at her lips as she pretends to look stern ( in his mind, that’s what she’s doing anyway ), he can’t help but laugh. Always keeping him on his toes, isn’t she?

                   ❝ ‘M sorry, Miss Oswald, but I’m afraid that’s a no can do. Y’see, we have a policy here about hugs: NO REFUNDS, RETURNS, OR EXCHANGES. ❞       He fights back his own grin, trying to flatten his lips but only managing to make them look like a squirmy caterpillar as he fails miserably ( putting on a stern face is much easier when students are involved ).                 ❝ I could always regift it, though. ❞

   “      Oh, you wouldn’t dare, Mr Pink. ” 

    It is somehow the most difficult thing she could ever set herself to doing, holding back the smile that threatens to spread upon her lips in his presence, at the sound of his voice. She can’t help it - and it is always the most arduous task to hold back what is second nature to her, after all this time spent getting to know Danny. All it’s done is made her comfortable around him. Happy. Really, there is no doubting it      with him, she feels safe. There is no need for pretense, not when he’d seen her, the real her, not so long ago      in that desert, scared and alone and wanting nothing else but to go home. He’d seen the worst parts of her, it feels like, and he’s        he’s still here, and he’s not going anywhere, it seems, and       

    Well. Perhaps the fact that he’s good and kind and so, so wonderful made her desire to keep him around for as much as he wanted to remain so ever stronger. In all her years, there has never been anyone quite like Danny Pink, which is perhaps a logical, reasonable thing. Ellie’s not quite sure that would be fair on her, really. She wouldn’t be able to handle copious amounts of his brand of ... well, everything.

    Besides. The universe isn’t that generous, anyway.

❛ MEME.┆accepting.